Devin Coldewey

Devin Coldewey
Nationality	American
Occupation	Technology journalist, writer
Employer	TechCrunch
Known for	Senior writer and columnist at TechCrunch

Devin Coldewey is an American technology journalist and writer who has served as a senior writer and columnist at TechCrunch, one of the most prominent technology news publications in the United States. Over a career spanning more than fifteen years at the outlet, Coldewey has established himself as a prolific commentator on topics ranging from consumer electronics and artificial intelligence to space exploration, privacy, and the broader societal implications of technology. His writing is characterized by a willingness to offer pointed analysis and opinion alongside straightforward reporting, covering subjects as varied as Apple product launches, the ethics of AI language models, Google's platform strategy, and Elon Musk's public statements about journalism. Coldewey's body of work at TechCrunch encompasses news reporting, product reviews, interviews with industry leaders, and opinion columns that frequently engage with questions about corporate accountability, user privacy, and the direction of the technology industry.

Career

Early Work at TechCrunch

Coldewey's byline first appeared at TechCrunch during the late 2000s, a period when the publication was rapidly expanding its coverage of the technology industry. One of his earliest notable pieces, published in August 2009, was an essay titled "Why I Don't Use Twitter," in which he examined the microblogging platform's utility and its susceptibility to misuse, even while expressing a fundamental belief in the service's value to its users. The piece exemplified a style that would become a hallmark of Coldewey's work: a personal, essayistic approach to technology criticism that went beyond product specifications to interrogate the cultural and social dimensions of digital tools.

Throughout the early 2010s, Coldewey contributed to TechCrunch's coverage of major platform developments. He reported on the evolution of Facebook's messaging ecosystem, including the rollout of Facebook Messenger as a standalone product. In November 2011, he covered the launch of Messenger for Windows, reporting on Facebook's effort to bring its chat functionality to the desktop environment. He followed this coverage in December 2011 with additional reporting on the Facebook Chat Windows client as it became more widely available.

Coverage of Facebook Messenger and Platform Strategy

Coldewey's reporting on Facebook's messaging strategy continued as the company made increasingly aggressive moves to push users toward its standalone Messenger application. In April 2014, he reported on Facebook's decision to force mobile users to download the separate Messenger app in order to send messages, rather than allowing them to use the messaging function within the main Facebook app. This move was widely discussed across the technology press and represented a significant strategic shift by Facebook to establish Messenger as an independent platform. Coldewey also covered the expansion of the Messenger app to the iPad in July 2014, as Facebook sought to optimize the experience across Apple's tablet platform.

In subsequent years, Coldewey tracked the continued evolution of Facebook Messenger, including the launch of Messenger Lite in 150 additional countries in April 2017. His reporting framed this expansion in the context of Facebook's competitive strategy, noting that the lightweight version of the app represented an effort to sidestep competition from Snapchat by reaching users in markets where bandwidth and device storage were limited. He also covered the May 2017 redesign of the Messenger app, which focused on improving navigation and usability.

Consumer Electronics and Apple Coverage

A recurring thread in Coldewey's work has been his coverage of Apple's product line, often marked by forthright assessments that diverge from the consensus of the technology press. In September 2018, following Apple's annual iPhone event, Coldewey published an article mourning the discontinuation of the iPhone SE, calling it "the best phone Apple ever made." In the piece, he argued that the company's decision to abandon the smaller, more affordable model represented a loss for consumers who valued compact design and lower price points over the ever-increasing screen sizes and premium pricing that defined Apple's newer offerings. The article was notable for its personal tone and willingness to criticize a company whose product launches typically generated enthusiastic coverage elsewhere.

Privacy and Surveillance Reporting

Coldewey has also contributed to TechCrunch's reporting on privacy and surveillance issues. In July 2019, he reported on claims by a whistleblower that recordings made by Apple's Siri voice assistant were "regularly" sent to Apple contractors for analysis. His article placed Apple in the context of similar revelations about Google and Amazon, noting that Apple had joined "the dubious company" of its rivals in sharing user audio data with third-party contractors without users' explicit knowledge. This reporting contributed to a broader public conversation about the privacy implications of always-listening voice assistant devices and the extent to which major technology companies were collecting and processing user data.

Technology Industry Commentary and Opinion

Beyond news reporting, Coldewey has written extensively in an opinion and analytical capacity. His commentary has frequently addressed what he views as failures of judgment or strategy by major technology companies. In May 2018, he published a critique of Elon Musk's proposal to create a website where the public could rate the "core truth" of news articles and track the credibility of journalists over time. Coldewey characterized the idea as "a very bad idea," comparing it unfavorably to Yelp and raising concerns about the potential for such a system to be used to harass and undermine journalists.

In October 2022, following Google's announcement that it would shut down its Stadia cloud gaming platform, Coldewey published an analysis arguing that the service's failure was rooted in a fundamental erosion of public trust in Google. He wrote that the company had "exhibited such poor understanding of what people want, need and will pay for" that consumers were unwilling to invest time or money in a new Google platform, given the company's history of abruptly discontinuing products and services. The piece was representative of Coldewey's willingness to identify systemic patterns of corporate behavior rather than treating individual product failures in isolation.

Artificial Intelligence Coverage

As artificial intelligence became one of the dominant stories in the technology industry in the early 2020s, Coldewey turned his attention to the emerging landscape of AI companies and products. In November 2023, he covered the release of Claude 2.1 by Anthropic, the AI safety company founded by former OpenAI researchers. His reporting positioned the release in the context of the broader competitive dynamics of the AI industry, noting that Anthropic's progress demonstrated that the competition among AI developers was not slowing down, even amid the internal turmoil that had engulfed OpenAI at the time.

In February 2024, Coldewey wrote about Goody-2, an AI model designed as a satirical commentary on the tendency of AI companies to impose restrictive ethical guardrails on their products. The article explored the concept of an AI that was "too ethical to discuss literally anything," using the project as a lens through which to examine the ongoing debate about how and where AI companies should draw the boundaries of acceptable AI behavior. Coldewey's AI coverage has consistently sought to contextualize individual product launches and research developments within the larger philosophical and commercial questions that the technology raises.

Space and Aerospace Reporting

Coldewey's range as a journalist has extended beyond consumer technology and software to include coverage of the aerospace industry. In November 2024, he conducted an interview with Steve Isakowitz, the CEO and President of the Aerospace Corporation, for TechCrunch. The interview covered topics including the future of space exploration, sustainability in the space sector, and the organization's "Space Agenda 2025," a forward-looking assessment of priorities for the space industry. This interview demonstrated Coldewey's capacity to engage with complex technical subjects and industry leaders outside the core consumer technology beat.

Writing Style and Approach

Coldewey's body of work at TechCrunch is notable for its blending of reported news with opinion and cultural criticism. Unlike many technology journalists who maintain a strictly neutral reporting voice, Coldewey frequently adopts a first-person perspective in his opinion pieces, offering personal assessments of products, corporate strategies, and industry trends. His 2009 essay on Twitter, his 2018 elegy for the iPhone SE, and his 2022 analysis of Google Stadia's failure all demonstrate this approach.

At the same time, his news reporting—on subjects such as the Siri whistleblower revelations, Facebook Messenger's evolution, and Anthropic's AI developments—adheres to conventional journalistic standards of sourcing and factual accuracy. This dual capacity, as both reporter and commentator, has allowed Coldewey to occupy a distinctive position within the technology press, contributing both breaking news coverage and the kind of reflective, analytical writing that provides context and interpretation for readers.

His coverage spans an unusually broad range of topics for a single journalist at a technology publication, encompassing consumer electronics, social media platforms, artificial intelligence, privacy and surveillance, corporate strategy, and aerospace. This breadth reflects the generalist tradition within technology journalism, in which writers are expected to follow the news across multiple sectors rather than specializing in a single area.

Recognition

Coldewey's articles have been cited and referenced by organizations and publications beyond TechCrunch. His interview with Steve Isakowitz of the Aerospace Corporation was highlighted on the Aerospace Corporation's own news page, indicating the interview's significance to the organization. His reporting on Facebook Messenger's strategic decisions in 2014, including the forced migration to the standalone app, contributed to a broader media conversation that was also covered by outlets including The Verge and The Next Web. His articles on Apple's Siri privacy issues, the Google Stadia shutdown, and AI ethics have generated discussion across social media and the technology press, contributing to public understanding of these issues.